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List of contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Formal Theory of the Subject
Chapter Two: The Transcendental
Chapter Three: The Object
Chapter Four: Relation
Chapter Five: The Four Forms of Change
Chapter Six: Theory of Points
Chapter Seven: The Body
Conclusion: What is it to Live?
About the author
William Watkin is professor of contemporary literature and philosophy at Brunel University, UK. He is the author of In the Process of Poetry: The New York School and the Avant-Garde (2001), On Mourning: Theories of Loss in Modern Literature (2004), The Literary Agamben (2010) Agamben and Indifference (2014) and Badiou and Indifferent Being (Bloomsbury, 2017).
Summary
Logics of Worlds stands as one of the most important texts in contemporary thought. Conceived as the sequel to Alan Badiou’s Being and Event, the book expands upon and elucidates the questions that were posed in the first book. As a complex theory of worlds, the text has, for the most part, been misunderstood, but in William Watkin’s diligent and critical close reading of the book, he makes the case for Logics of Worlds being the essential Badiou book for anyone interested in existence, meaning and the potential for radical change.
For Watkin, this recasting of ontology is followed by a transformation of logic, which is not only a theory of being, but of appearing and allows Badiou to give new meaning to the object, body and relation. To do this, he explores these concepts through architecture, astronomy and renowned thinkers such as Kant, Hegel and Kierkegaard. For students of French Continental philosophy, ontology and Badiou himself, Watkin’s commentary on the philosopher’s text provides a brilliant and incisive new interpretation of this underrated work by the leading Continental philosopher of our time.
Foreword
The first critical introduction to Badiou’s Logics of Worlds, making the case for its being the development of the philosopher’s Being and Event project.
Additional text
The work of Alain Badiou is amongst the strangest and strongest in contemporary philosophy. Here William Watkin takes up the challenge to explicate and justify Badiou’s eventful innovations in Logics of Worlds, moving step-by-step through the key developments with clarity and care, showing his commitment to what is communicable — and to what is not.
